Santa’s new $344,500 183mph Sleigh

Greetings all shoppers on Aisle 12. Looking for that perfect Holiday gift for your loved one? How about our very special Neiman Marcus Aston Martin Vanquish Volante? Yours for just $344,500.

The Aston is one of the Fantasy Gifts listed in the latest edition of that bible to seasonal retail therapy, the annual Neiman Marcus Christmas Book.

The Dallas-based retailer is offering just 10 of these thundering V12-engined carbon fiber-bodied drop-tops, each specially built by Aston Martin’s ‘Q’ personalization department. Yes, that’s ‘Q’, as in James Bond’s gadget maker.

What does an extra $45,000 over the base price of an’ Aston Vanquish Volante buy you? Lots, actually.

Special paintwork to start with. Called Seychelles Blue, it’s a match to the color of HRH The Prince of Wales’ much-loved 1969 Aston DB6 Volante - the car William and Kate drove away from Buckingham Palace on their wedding day.

The blue theme continues with an Atlantic Blue cloth top and blue-painted brake calipers, while inside it’s all lovely quilted black leather with Aurora blue trim. In the trunk is a gorgeous four-piece set of fitted custom luggage.

Aston unveiled the 2014 Vanquish Volante at last August’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and it’s quite a machine. It features a body made entirely of light-weight, super-strong carbon fiber, while under the hood is a 6.0-liter V12 cranking out 565 horsepower. Zero to 60mph sprinting is in a blazing four seconds with top speed at 183 mph.

While the standard Volante won’t start arriving in U.S. dealers until early next year, buying one of the Neiman Marcus models will at least ensure you get your car first, ahead of anyone else.

But don’t go telling your friends you just bought the most expensive item in the Neiman catalog. Alas, that accolade goes to a Forevermark 25-carat diamond at a cool $1.85 million.